Brooks-TLC Hospital System Inc. has been granted more time in its efforts to build a new hospital.

Officials on Thursday announced Brooks-TLC received a six-month extension from its deadline to complete the purchase of property – the site of the proposed new hospital building – in the village of Fredonia. The property, currently a grape field off East Main Street, is still owned by Cornell Cooperative Extension, which granted the extension. Brooks-TLC’s contract to purchase was set to expire Nov. 30.

“The contract was amended and extended through June 1, 2023 and we are grateful to Cornell for that,” said Brooks-TLC President and CEO Ken Morris. “We remain hopeful the New York State Department of Health will approve the building project and release the project funds awarded in 2016.”

Brooks-TLC in June received a one-year site plan extension requested of the Fredonia Planning Board.

In 2016, it was announced the hospital would receive funding for a new facility. That amount today is nearly $74 million. However, state Health Department officials have yet to approve plans submitted by the hospital for the new structure that is desperately needed.

Housed at 529 Central Ave., Dunkirk, the current structure is out of date and needs plenty of maintenance. In a study done by a task force in the fall that consisted of former hospital officials and a county physician, the panel noted a new facility would not end years of deficits that have hampered Brooks-TLC. However, it did believe if the operation partnered with Kaleida Health — or another larger entity — those losses that are currently $1 million a month could be decreased to $3 million per year.